


the standstill shock of almost losing you

by waiting4peterpan



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Deputy Steve - Freeform, Jim adopts every lost kid he meets, Multi, Steve deserves all the love in the world, The one where Nancy picks a fight with a nurse, thats including Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 09:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19664986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waiting4peterpan/pseuds/waiting4peterpan
Summary: Steve doesn't get any less reckless when he becomes a deputy, if anything, he gets worse.





	the standstill shock of almost losing you

The world stops when Steve Harrington gets shot. 

It was a quiet Tuesday night, and he was on a simple patrol with Hopper. 

It was supposed to be a simple patrol. 

They got a noise complaint about the hick family off 12th street. Jim thought it would be an easy fix. No one thought to tell them the noise was a '65 revolver in the hands of a drunk redneck. Steve had tried to talk them down but caught a bullet in the shoulder instead. Later Steve would learn Hopper knocked the guy and his friends on their asses before calling for an ambulance and backup. 

Steve woke up in a hospital bed to the sounds of Nancy Wheeler yelling at a nurse. 

"We are his family! Let us see him!" He wanted more than anything to see the look on the nurse's face. Nany was never one to cross. After another minute and several choice words from Nancy later, her and Jonathan Byers rushed into the room. Nancy started to shake at the sight of his wrapped shoulder. Johnathan wasn't much better. He tried to keep it together. It would have been almost believable if it weren't for the tense way he held his shoulders and his clenched fist. 

He was out for 6 hours. 

A rock had knocked him out when he fell. Then he had to be sedated while they took the bullet out. For 6 hours no one knew if he was going to be okay. He felt like shit for making everyone worry. 

He hadn't noticed at first, but Jim was asleep in a tiny plastic beside the bed the whole time. Crumpled up like Steve's homework had been. Joyce came in a bundle of anxiety and motherly worry. She brought a pie, store bought. Steve had to turn away so she wouldn't see him cry. 

Dustin almost reopened the wound when he hugged him. Mike and Lucas made fun of him. Jane poked the wound before shaking her head and telling him to stop getting hurt. The looks she gave him made him want to keep the promise. Max yelled at him for being reckless while she pretended not to cry. Will handed him a beautifully drawn card with "Get Well Soon Asshole" across the top. He laughed until it hurts. 

When visiting hours are over, Joyce herded the kids out. Jim follows them out after giving Steve a nod that made him oddly proud. Johnathan promised to come back in the morning. Nancy doesn't move. Her grip tightened on Steve's hand when the nurse passes his room, but he thinks Carol was too scared to ask her to leave. So she stays. 

Around 3 am she started to cry, heavy sobs that broke his heart. He ignored the pain, pushed himself up and held her in his arms.

"You could have died. " she choked out "4 inches, and you could have died." 

"But I didn't Nance" he whispered against her head while he stroked her hair "I'm right here." 

That made her cry harder. All Steve could do was hold her tight against his chest while her tears soaked through his hospital gown. 

"You could have died not knowing I still love you. You almost died not knowing that Steve." 

It wasn't until sunrise and Nancy was asleep, still holding his hand, did Steve register what she said. Steve couldn't look Johnathan in the eyes when he came in with 3 cups of coffee that morning. It was just the three of them until 3 pm when all the kids came crashing in. Mike told Nancy she needed a shower and after some coaxing on both Steve and Johnathan's part, she gave in. 

An hour later, Johnathan went to the washroom, and Will promptly plops into his seat. 

"You know Johnathan punched a hole in his wall when he heard?" Steve didn't know what startled him more, how frankly Will was talking to him, or the information he gave him. 

"He cares about you. Like, a lot. He's terrible at showing it, but he does." Steve knew he looked like an idiot. Before he could say something, anything, Johnathan came back. When he turns back to the kid, he's gone. 

Around 6 pm, everyone was sitting around Steve's hospital room. Joyce and Hopper had brought a ridiculous amount of food and soda. Nancy brought in about a hundred blankets and that worlds weirdest picnic began. The kids were all sprawled on the floor. Nancy sat beside Steve on his bed, and Johnathan sat on the other end facing them. Against the back wall were Joyce and Hopper, watching over them all as always. 

That's when Steve's parents walked in. At least they tried to. There was no place to walk. So they stayed in the doorway, looking wide-eyed at the crowd that had accumulated in their son's hospital room. Steve grabbed Nancy's wrist, knowing she would get up and yell if he didn't stop her. What he hadn't accounted for was Johnathan bolting off the bed, and Joyce storming up to them. 

"Your son has been in the hospital for almost two days now, and you just thought it was time to visit!" Hopper placed a calming hand on the small of Joyce back before explaining Steves state to them in the strained voice he only used before a fight. It takes Steve's light touch on his wrist and some tugging for Johnathan to sit back on the bed, not taking his intense eyes off the Mr and Mrs in the doorway. 

His mother has the decency to pretend to be ashamed when she finally makes her way to his bedside. His dad leans against the doorway and scoffs. She pushed his hair back and asked how he was doing. Nancy answered in a less than friendly tone, and it warmed and broke Steve's heart all at once. 

After they left Hopper slammed the door shut and whipped around to glare at Jane, who was wiping her nose clean. It was then Steve realized that Hopper hadn't been showing restraint with his dad. Jane had been holding him back. 

Karen Wheeler came with cookies and several manful apologies for not making it sooner at 8:35pm exactly before taking both of her kids home, ignoring Nancy's protests. He expects Jonathan to leave with Joyce after she kissed them both on the cheek, then when Dustin, Max and Lucas are dragged about by Dustin's mom, he is sure he's going to go when Hopper carries a sleeping Jane back to the car, but he stays. He stays when the nurse comes in to give Steve his pain meds, he stays while Steve takes a shower, and he stays when the lights go out, and the wing goes silent. 

He stays at the end of the bed, laying down and his feet are near Steve's head. It takes everything in him not to test if he was ticklish. They laid there is comfortable silence for so long that when Jonathan finally talks, Steve nearly shits himself. 

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

"Oh?" It's all Steve could get out. He pushed himself up and tried to smother a smile "Is that so?" Jonathan glared at him, and even in the dark, it was scary. 

"You could have died. Look what you would have left behind, all the people that care. Did you even think of them? Dustin, Max, and all the kids. Hopper and my mom. Nancy!"

"You?" All the air seemed to suck out of the room, and they both became extremely aware of how close they were, another rich and Steve could have bumped his nose against Jonathan's. 

"Yes. You asshole. Me."

Steve blames the kiss on the pain meds. 

It was light. Barely there light, and it drives Steve crazy. 

He blames the second on his 10-month dry spell. 

When Steve wakes up with Jonathan still at the end of his bed, he thinks he might have dreamt it all up. Then Jonathan's hand slips into his and doesn't leave even when Nancy comes in. She gives them a small smile and hands Steve a clipboard so he can sign himself out. 

Everyone is at the Byres, that's what he's told when they load into Nancy's 81' Beetle fifteen minute and a charged stare between Nurse Carol and Nancy later. 

From his spot in the back seat, he finally gets a good look at both of them and thought he'd gone insane. When he looked at Nancy behind the wheel, he heard the sobs, and I love you's, and when he looked at Jonathan, his stomach twisted up into knots thinking about the soft, and frantic kisses they shared. 

He was too lost in his own confusion that had hadn't noticed Nancy has taken a wrong turn, and then another. It was only when the car stopped that he saw they were at the lake. 

"Um, Nance. Why are we here?" She answered by sitting beside him in the back and kissing him senseless. His brain shut off, and muscle memory took over. When they finally broke apart, Steve didn't move. He kept his eyes shut, waiting for the punch or the punchline. 

"Steve?" She sounded scared, Steve never thought she could be. She was looking at him like she was waiting for everything to blow up. Jonathan was still in the front seat, and he was looking at them. He was smiling the same way Nancy had when she'd seen them holding hands. Steve had no fucking clue what was happening. 

So he'd gone with his gut. 

He grabbed Jonathan by the front of his shirt and pulled him in. 

They were an hour late to the Byres.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this before season 3 was out but I do have some ideas with Robin in the works so hopefully, I'll be posting again soon. Hope you enjoyed! Comments are always appreciated ♡


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